Love and Lies
by x.Sess.x.Satan.x
Summary: Formerly 'Professor Rimmer'. Rimmer finds himself in the centre of a complicated love triangle. Much more complicated than he could imagine.
1. Gemma

**Disclaimer: **None of them are mine. I like to pretend I own Rimmer, though…

**Author's Note: **Nicole makes a return in this one! YAY! I wuv her! Anyway, this is set before the accident, and it's a Rimmer fic. Please R&R!

Rimmer was pissed off. He'd been working very hard all day (in fact, he'd been working doubly hard because Lister had spent the day bunking again) then, as he prepared to pack away, one of the chicken soup machines decided to leak on him and he had to re-fix it, then, just as he thought his day couldn't get any worse, four screaming children had ran straight into him. He resented the decision by Captain Hollister and the Red Dwarf Council to allow workers' families on board. It made life all the more complicated.  
As he made his way towards his sleeping quarters he was again ambushed by another three children. He turned to yell at them but stopped when he saw that one of them had fallen to the ground and was shaking gently, as though she was crying. Even Rimmer couldn't be so heartless as to scream at an upset child. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped violently and scrambled to her feet. Her face was red and blotchy and she had tear marks streaked down her cheeks.  
"Um, are you OK?" Rimmer asked, desperate to break the awful unmitigated silence. The little girl just looked at her shoes and nodded. Rimmer frowned, "What's wrong?"  
After a pause she just shook her head.  
"Well, it looked like those kids were-"  
"Just shut up!" she screamed and burst into tears again.  
"OK, OK," Rimmer comforted in a state of sheer panic – crying children were his all time second worst fear (right after crying women and just before crying men).

"W-what's your name?" she asked him out of the blue when she had stopped crying.  
"Um," Rimmer was taken aback, "Rimmer. Arnold Rimmer. Er, what's yours?"  
"Gemma."  
"Oh," Rimmer had absolutely _no_ clue what to say, "It's…it's pretty." He still wanted to find out why she had been being chased by those other kids, "Do you know why…the kids back then…do you know why they….you know…"  
Gemma said something very softly.  
"Sorry?" Rimmer asked.  
"They always do," she said louder, "Because I'm stupid."  
"Oh, I'm sure you're not."  
"I am. I get thrown in the bottom form for everything: Maths, Science, Navigation, everything. Except…except English Studies."  
"Do you like English?" Rimmer asked, settling nicely into the conversation. Gemma nodded and smiled a little.  
"I write stories. Well…I try to. But I get my spellings all wrong. That's why I don't show anyone my stories. Not even Mum," her eyes widened, "Mum! Oh no, I was supposed to be back by now!"  
She made eye contact with Rimmer for the first time and was suddenly shy again.  
"Well, where are you staying?"  
"Um, room 474. Floor 35," she said, almost in a whisper.  
"Well, do you, er, do you want me to take you back?"  
"No!" she said immediately. Rimmer jumped slightly, "Um, OK then. Are you OK going by yourself?"  
"Yes," she said quietly and walked briskly away from him. He watched her go with curiosity; there was something more to this girl, and he wanted to find out what.


	2. Nicole

**Disclaimer: **Nope, not mine. As much as I want it, it's not mine. Believe me, I would LOVE to own Rimmer, but it's just not possible. Sigh, I can dream...

**Author's Note: **Not much to say about this really. Apart from...NICOLE IS BACK! YAAAY! Oh, andI wasn't sure if I should post this as chapter 2 or 3, but after deliberation with Liz (aka _Raging Tree Trunk_) I decided I'd post it anyway, and I can always reshuffle it later ifI think it's rubbish. R&R and enjoy, as always!

For the next four days Rimmer went back to his sleeping quarters from work always hoping he would bump into Gemma again, but he never did. However, on the fifth day he bumped into someone even better…  
As Nicole dashed along the corridor, shuffling through a vast array of coloured papers and forms she tripped slightly and dropped a pen on the floor. It rolled to Rimmer's feet and he gently stopped it and picked it up. Nicole, nearly crashing into him, looked up at Rimmer and mumbled a thank you.  
_Wow_, thought Rimmer. _Wow.  
_Right there and then he decided that he liked this woman. Or rather, a certain part of his anatomy decided for him…

He swallowed hard and tried to keep a cool persona (something that is very hard if your name is Arnold Judas Rimmer). He went to say something but nothing came out; in one moment of utter terror he had completely forgotten how to speak the English language. He didn't want to think what he looked like, mouth half-open, his hand surreptitiously covering his groinal area, holding on to one end of a pen whilst Nicole held on to the other, gazing into her eyes like some love-struck adolescent. If Lister came by now he would have a field day. _You have to say something! _Rimmer told himself, _Anything. Even if it's the stupidest thing in the world, just say something!  
_"This is a pen."  
_Yeah, you should have kept quiet._

Nicole giggled awkwardly, "Yes, I know," she said putting the aforementioned pen in her breast pocket  
"Sorry," Rimmer apologised, "I…I'm not too good at, you know, casual conversation."  
Nicole half-smiled, "Me neither. Well, it's not that I can't do it, I just never have the time. What with trying to juggle work and a family-"  
"Family?" Rimmer's heart sank.  
"Yes. Why?"  
"Er…" that was a good point; why _had_ he interrupted her like that? "What's your name?"  
"Nicole Adler. Why?" She asked again.  
Because he so desperately wanted to know more about her, "Because I might have recognised the name. I could work with your husband or something." _Oh dear God what are you blathering on about you idiot?  
_"Oh, no, I don't have a husband."  
"Boyfriend, then."  
"Wrong again. I'm single."  
Rimmer's heart leapt back up again.  
"Oh! Fantastic!"  
"Fantastic?" Nicole asked with a puzzled expression.  
"Oh, well, yes, I can see how that could have sounded. And obviously it's not fantastic for _you_. I just meant…I thought…never mind."  
Nicole smiled again. A proper smile this time, one that lit up her face, "Are you trying to ask me out?"  
"Well," Rimmer blushed and looked at the ground.  
"You can if you want. I wouldn't turn you down," Rimmer looked up, "I just hope you know you'll also be tying in with two kids as well as myself."  
Rimmer nodded knowingly, although this was news to him and Nicole knew it.  
"Right. So," she said brightly, "Do you want to grab something to eat sometime?"  
"Um, yeah, sure," he managed to mumble. She smiled, "Great! I'm in room 474 on Floor 35. Drop by whenever."  
Room 474? Floor 35? That all seemed remarkably familiar to Rimmer, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"Anyway," Nicole said conclusively, "I should be going. See you around!" and with a swift wave goodbye, she walked off down the corridor. Rimmer watched her go in absolute amazement. Only one thought was going through his head: Lister is _so _gonna hear about this!

**A/N:** I like to keep my chapters short and sweet!


	3. Algebra

**Author's Note:** I LOVE Gemma! She'll probably make a return in another fanfic somewhere in the not-too-distant future. Anyway, here's another one for ya, R&R as always and enjoy.

"Gemma!" Mr Richardson's sharp voice barked from the front of the classroom. She'd done it again; she'd started daydreaming.  
"What?"  
"Can you tell me the answer?"  
Of course she couldn't! It was algebra! She didn't know the first thing about algebra! She just stared at him.  
"Well?" he asked impatiently.  
"Well what?"  
"What does x equal?"  
Gemma looked at the board and saw some very complicated symbols, half of which meant nothing to her.  
"I don't know."  
Mr Richardson sighed, "Please try, Gemma."  
"I _am_ trying," Gemma replied through gritted teeth.  
"I don't think you are. I'm starting to lose my temper and patience with you, and unless you buck up-"  
"I DON'T CARE!" Gemma interrupted. Every head in the class turned to the drama unfolding in front of them, "I've never been good at all this mathsy stuff and you know it! You ALWAYS pick on me! It's not FAIR!"  
"Gemma, calm down," he said putting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.  
"NO! Not until you listen! I don't want to be in this stupid class. I'm only here because my mum can't look after me during the day!"  
She heard someone in the class whisper 'workoholic' and that's what really set her off. She went over to the boy who had said it and hit him hard. Before Mr Richardson could say anything she had stormed out of the door and was running down the corridor, hot tears pricking her eyes.

She knew her mother was a busy person, with her job and looking after two children all by herself. Faiyre, Gemma's older sister, sometimes helped out, but she still went to a therapist about her stress. It worried Gemma sometimes how often she would go and leave them with some random, ship-issued baby-sitter – if they HAD to be left by themselves, why couldn't it be with someone who knew and understood them, someone who could build up a rapport with them? It was then she ran into a familiar face.  
"Gemma!" Rimmer exclaimed. Gemma forced a weak smile, "What's wrong?" he asked. Gemma looked at the floor and burst into tears again. Rimmer knelt down beside her and put his arm round her, "What's wrong?" he repeated.  
"It's my Mum…no, it's school…no…I don't know! Everything is so messed up and I just don't know what to do!"  
Rimmer hugged her tighter, "It's OK. Honestly, everything will be fine."  
Mr Richardson strode up in front of them, "Gemma! Get back in that classroom now!"  
Rimmer stood up to confront him, despite being a good four inches shorter, "Er, who exactly are you? And what's the problem?"  
"I'm Mr Richardson, Gemma's maths teacher. And that girl is an impertinent, rude little so-and-so. She needs to be put in her place, and that's what I intend to do. Come on, child." He gestured for Gemma to go back in the room, but Rimmer placed a gentle hand on her arm.  
"_Gemma _is an impertinent, rude girl? This little girl here who has just been crying on my shoulder?" Gemma looked up at him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This man who had met her _once_ before was sticking up for her and seeming to be having a great time in doing so; no one had ever done that for her before, not in 14 years, not even her own mother!  
"You think she needs to be put in her place?" Rimmer continued, "Well, I think you could do with taking down a peg or two yourself! Can't you see you're making her miserable? Just leave her alone, OK?"  
Mr Richardson looked shocked, "Gemma," he said, forcefully, but much more quietly, "Be back in maths in five minutes." He turned slowly and walked away.  
Rimmer stood stock still; he had never done anything like that before, not in 28 years, discounting the odd row with Lister. Gemma looked as stunned as he felt.  
"That was…" she whispered, "that was…incredible…"  
"I can't feel my knees!" Rimmer suddenly realised, and gripped onto the side of the trolley to stop himself keeling over.  
"That was incredible," Gemma repeated even more quietly.  
"So," Rimmer asked after gaining a little more composure, "What happened exactly?"  
"I'm not sure. It all went in…in a bit of a blur, I…" she took a deep breath, "I yelled at my teacher, hit a boy in my class and stormed out…I think."  
Rimmer's eyes widened a little, "Well, that's not good!"  
"I know!"  
"Look, Gemma, maybe you should get back. Mr Richardson didn't look too pleased with you."  
Gemma nodded numbly and let her legs carry her back.

When she got home her mother was waiting for her. And she didn't look happy.  
"I got a call from Mr Richardson this afternoon," she said. Gemma bowed her head.  
"Sorry, Mum."  
Gemma's mother just looked at her daughter before going over to her and hugging her, "Look, Gem, I know it's hard. I know you'd rather I was around more. But I am starting to get my life back on track, I promise. In fact, I got a date not long ago! So there you go, you might have a new daddy!"  
"Mum, I'm not eight years old any more, you can't force that 'new daddy' stuff on me now."  
"Oh," she said disheartened, "Well, I…I just thought you might be pleased."  
Gemma rolled her eyes, "I've gotta go do my maths homework. The Eradicator Of Good Humour gave me extra."  
"Please, dear, call him Mr Richardson."  
"He doesn't deserve a pronoun," Gemma called back as she grabbed an apple and made for her room.


	4. Date

**Author's note: **Wow, this took a long time! There just seemed so much I could do with this chapter that I didn't know where to begin! But once I got the ball rolling (and my pesky little muse came back) it took a great deal of self-control to stop writing so I could edit it down! But, here it is. Rimmer and Nicole's first date. Awww! Enjoy!

Rimmer fidgeted with his collar and ordered yet another glass of water. He couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous. Nicole was now twenty-five minutes late and he was beginning to worry; this was pretty much his first date ever, and he had wanted it to go smoothly. He downed the remainder of his water and raised his hand.  
"Excuse me," he called over a waiter, "Could I have another glass of water, please?"  
"Of course, sir," the waiter replied smoothly. Barely two minutes later he had returned with the requested drink. Rimmer took it gratefully and sipped at it.  
"Would you like anything else, sir?"  
"Er, not for now, thank you."  
The waiter nodded curtly and walked away. Rimmer was on his own again. After another half an hour it became clear to him that Nicole wasn't going to turn up. He finished off his drink and stood to leave, but a figure in a sparkling plum dress stopped him.  
"Nicole!" Rimmer said delighted, "You…you're here!"  
"Yes," Nicole said, "I'm so sorry I'm late. That's the thing with having children, you never know how reliable the babysitter's going to be," she laughed nervously. Rimmer smiled and pulled out a chair for her to sit down.  
"How are you?" he asked politely.  
"Oh, I'm just fine. And you?"  
_Miles better for seeing you,_ he thought.  
"Can't complain," he said.

That was about as exciting their time in the restaurant got. They ordered their meals and talked about this and that, but never really hit off with anything special. They discussed work until the waiter came up to them with two plates of food which he put down sloppily in front of them.  
"Excuse me," Nicole said politely, "This, er, this isn't what we ordered."  
"Well, I'm sorry," the waiter said, not sounding like he meant it, "but that's the order I've got down for this table."  
"Well, I'm sorry," Rimmer mimicked, "but that's _not _what we ordered at all. I wanted the salmon en cruet, and the lady wanted the mushroom omelette."  
Nicole was slightly surprised that he had remembered her order, but then again he had always come across to her as a bit of a surprising character.  
The waiter huffed sulkily and took the plates away. Rimmer and Nicole looked at each other in disbelief.  
"Can you believe that?" Nicole asked.  
"I don't understand it," Rimmer said, "I've always had such good service here in the past." Actually, that was a lie. He never really ate out, because he had no one to eat out with.  
"Yes, me too," Nicole replied, which was also a lie. She never really ate out because she never had the time; there was always one more paper to fill out, one more report to finish. And, of course, the children had to be looked after.  
The waiter returned with their correct meals and some news: "Your bill has been increased because of the mix-up of the meals. You will now have to pay for both."  
They stared at him in shock.  
"Is this a wind up?" Nicole asked.  
The waiter shook his head.  
"Well, I'm sorry, we're not paying for _your _mistake," she said firmly.  
"Restaurant policy, I'm afraid," the waiter said with a smile.  
"This is ridiculous!" Rimmer exclaimed, "We've done nothing wrong!"  
The waiter shrugged.  
"You know what?" Nicole asked, turning to face the waiter, "I don't care for your attitude. You have been rude and challenging ever since I stepped foot in here."  
"Well, if that's your opinion, ma'am."  
"OK, could I speak to your supervisor, please?"  
That wiped the smirk off his face, "Er, um, do you have to?"  
"You'll do as she says," Rimmer warned him.  
After a slight hesitation, the waiter turned and walked stiffly to the back of the restaurant, returning a few moments later with an angry looking man.  
"I am the assistant manager here. Is there a problem?" he asked Rimmer and Nicole.  
"There most certainly is," Rimmer replied, "this young man has been nothing but unpleasant throughout the entire evening, and he has just informed us that we have to pay for a meal we never ordered."  
"Well, that's not right at all. I'm very sorry, sir, I will sort out this problem once and for all," he said apologetically, putting his hand on the obnoxious waiter's shoulder (and gripping it quite hard from the look on his face). Rimmer felt amazing – he had never challenged anyone about anything before, and he'd just done it twice in one day!  
"Do you want to get out of here?" Nicole suggested.  
"More than I want oxygen," Rimmer replied, making Nicole laugh. They slipped out whilst the assistant manager shouted at the waiter.

They made their way towards Rimmer's sleeping quarters. Or rather _Rimmer_ made his way towards his sleeping quarters and Nicole followed him. He panicked all the way there – what would she think he was implying by taking her to his bedroom on the first date? Not that he was intending on trying anything. He just couldn't think of anywhere else to take her, apart from _her_ sleeping quarters which would give an entirely different implication. When he got to the door he raised his hand to the light-sensitive panel and was about to press down when he heard voices inside the room: one was Lister's; one was a girl's. Probably not a good idea to subject himself and Nicole to that. Then he heard a second female voice. _Definitely _not a good idea. He turned to Nicole apologetically, "Looks like Lister beat me to it."  
He replayed the sentence on his head.  
"I mean," he stammered, "not that I was thinking of doing anything like what he's doing, I, I just meant he beat me to the room. I don't want to…do…anything to you, WITH you, not to you, although I don't want to do anything to you either because that would be bad. It would…er…"  
Rimmer ground to a halt. Anything he said was just going to make things worse, so stopping was probably the best thing he could possibly have done. But he had still messed up the date. Or so he thought.  
To his surprise, Nicole started laughing. It was beyond Rimmer's belief: he had made this woman laugh at least three times during the course of the date.  
"I'm sorry," she said, still giggling, "It's just been a while since anyone really took my feelings into consideration like this. I'm just…not used to it I guess."  
"Really?" Rimmer asked bemused, "But why wouldn't people want to look out for you?"  
"I don't know," she wasn't laughing so much now, "selfishness I suppose. It's the burden of being a working single mother. Everyone always thinks that just because I can provide my own income I don't need any help. And I'm not saying I'm totally dependent on other people – far from it, it's taken me half my life to shake off my parents' over-protectiveness – I just think I deserve some time off every now and again. To just unwind and be…me."  
And it was at that moment that Rimmer fell totally and utterly in love with her. Before that moment she had been just another pretty face that could sustain conversation. But he had restrained from developing strong feelings about her because you could find that anywhere. But now she had a story, a history. Now she was a unique person. She had had to struggle through so much throughout her life. Rimmer felt it was his duty, no, his _purpose _that he should take her in his arms and be her protector.

They ended up taking a walk in the botanical gardens and chatting again, although this time they didn't talk about the boredom and monotony of ship life, they told each other about their pasts. Nicole learned about Rimmer's brothers and parents, how they had stretched him to the limit (both mentally and physically – learning about the rack had sickened her to the stomach) and how school had been a tough time for him. She related to this. She had been bullied severely at school for a reason she couldn't fathom back then and still couldn't fathom now. She guessed it was because she focused heavily on studying rather than hanging around with a large group of friends. And it wasn't that she couldn't make friends; she just didn't. She knew it was a bit harsh, but she let Rimmer do most of the reminiscing because it brought back terrible memories for her to do so.  
Rimmer could see how painful this was for her. It was draining her energy, so he decided to bring the evening to a close, "Maybe we should be heading back now?"

When he took her back to her room she kissed him lightly on the lips which took him by surprise.  
"Thank you for a wonderful evening," she whispered, "I'd really love to do it again some time."  
Rimmer nodded, desperately holding back the urge to kiss her again. Maybe Nicole saw this urge; maybe she had enjoyed it the last time; maybe she really, really liked him. Whatever the reason, she gently put her arms on his shoulders and pulled him into another kiss, a proper kiss this time. For Rimmer, time stood still. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before, and he certainly didn't want it to end. Unfortunately, after a while, it did and he was forced to say goodnight to her and make his way back, the slightest spring in his step.


	5. Maths

**Author's note: **I wrote this in an hour! I'm so proud! Oh, and I'm really sorry to anyone under 16 for the maths lesson bit, but that's what revision does to you.

Gemma looked at the page if numbers in front of her with just three words flying through her head: _What the smeg?  
_She hated Mr Richardson more than ever. She tapped her pen impatiently on the floor, willing the answer to enter her brain…but it never did. She sighed, packed away all her homework stuff and went to bed. She lay in the darkness playing with her hair. She heard her mum come in (it might have been Gemma's imagination, but she could swear her mum was _singing_), talk to the babysitter, and then go to bed. She sat up and ran her hand over the red velvet book that stood on her bedside cabinet; it was the only thing her father had ever given her, and as she got older she suspected that it was actually her mother that had got it for her. Not that she really resented either of them for it: she loved her mother so much for just being there, and she had never even met her father so she couldn't hate him. But sometimes she wished she had a father type figure. This made her think of Rimmer – he'd been the first person to come even close to what Gemma wanted: he showed a genuine interest in her, he stuck up for her and they had begun to strike up a special bond. With this in mind, she slipped out of her bed quietly, trying not to wake her older sister, Faiyre. Faiyre remained adamant that she was happy with the way things were, just her, Gemma and their mother, but Gemma knew better; she knew she wanted another parent just as much as she did. She walked out of the room and through the lounge to the door, slipping on her dressing gown as she went.

Rimmer listened outside his door for any signs of Lister and his lady friends, but they seemed to have moved on. He entered the room and flopped on his bed, sighing contently. He couldn't remember ever being this happy! He nestled his head into his pillow and was beginning to drift off when he heard a knock at the door. He reluctantly heaved himself to his feet and opened it.  
"Gemma?" he asked in surprise.  
"Hi!" she said as though she'd only just spotted him.  
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?"  
"I wanted to see you."  
Rimmer couldn't help but feel touched, but he pushed it to one side, "Gemma, you really need to get back to your room. You might get into trouble."  
"Can't we talk for a bit?"  
She sounded so sincere. Rimmer fought with his instinct, but he eventually allowed her in.  
"Quickly," he said, "Lister will probably be back soon and then we'll _both_ be in a dilemma."

He sat next to her on his bed, "So what's the problem?"  
_Where do I start? _Gemma thought.  
"I hate my maths teacher," she said, "He set me all this extra homework and I don't understand any of it. I can't do maths to save my life."  
Rimmer stared at her, puzzled, "Surely you can so _some_."  
Gemma shook her head. Rimmer frowned, got a pencil and some paper, printed '2 x 2' on it and handed it to Gemma who looked at him confused.  
"Do it," he said simply. She took the pencil hesitantly and wrote a big '4'.  
"So you _can _do _some_ maths," Rimmer said with a smile.  
"Yeah, but two times two is easy. It's not even a sum, it's just a phrase that's implanted in your mind from the age of three."  
"OK," Rimmer said taking the pencil and paper, "Try this."  
He handed it back. Gemma read the '2 x 3' and wrote '6'.  
"What's this for?" Gemma asked.  
"You'll see," he said, writing yet another sum.  
'2 x ? equals8'  
"I don't get it."  
"Well, what times two equals eight?"  
"Er, four?"  
"Yep. How did you work that out?"  
"I just knew it."  
"Right, well try this one," he said handing the paper back again.  
'6 x ? equals 30'  
"Oh, I don't know the six times table!"  
"Just try and answer it."  
After a minute or so, Gemma printed '5' on the paper.  
"Is that right?"  
"Yes."  
"Wow, that was easy! I don't think I did it the right way, though."  
"How did you do it?"  
"I didn't use the six times table. I kept dividing thirty by different numbers until I got six."  
"That's OK," Rimmer assured her, "That's how I do difficult sums as well."  
"You?" Gemma asked, "Why do you need to do sums, you don't do maths."  
"You need maths wherever you go," Rimmer said, "Whether it's paying for something, or telling the time, or even just counting something out."  
"I didn't realise it was so important," she said, then looked at the three sums she had worked out by herself.

She grinned cheekily, "Are you going to at least _try_ to challenge me?"  
Rimmer smiled back, "Alright, have a go at this."  
Gemma read it and her face fell: '3y equals 24', the exact same equation she had got stuck on in her homework.  
"I can't do that," she stated simply.  
"Why not? You've got the basics sorted."  
"I don't even know where to begin."  
"OK," Rimmer shifted a little to a more comfortable position, "Do you know what the 'y' means?"  
"No. Not a clue. I mean, I know that the whole thing means 'three times something or other equals fifteen' but I don't know the answer."  
"So we're trying to figure out what 'y' equals, yes?"  
"Yes."  
"Let's get 'y' by itself, then. Now, when you fiddle about with equations, you have to make sure the stuff on either side of the equals sign are the same, so whatever you do to one side you have to do with the other. With me so far?"  
"Yes," she said, amazed that she actually understood.  
"OK, so to get 'y' by itself we need to do what?"  
"Er…get rid of the three somehow?"  
"Exactly," Rimmer felt so proud, "And to get rid of something, you do the opposite of what it's doing to begin with."  
"What?"  
"Yeah, I confused myself saying that."  
Gemma giggled.  
"Let me put it another way: because at the moment the three is being multiplied by the 'y' we have to do the opposite."  
"Divide," Gemma supplied.  
"Yes. So we divide the 'y' by three."  
"But don't you have to divide the fifteen by three as well? You know, because whatever you do to one side you have to do to the other."  
"Spot on."  
"So then you'd have…" Gemma took the paper and wrote 'y equals8' on it.  
"That's it!"  
"That's it?" Gemma asked in disbelief. It seemed too easy.  
"You can check it to see if it's right by substitution. Just replace the 'y' with eight."  
Gemma did so: '3 x 8 equals 24'.  
"Oh my God, that _is_ right!"  
"Didn't your maths teacher tell you how to do this?"  
"Not really. He just gave us some examples, but he didn't explain what he was doing and it confused me."  
"Hm," Rimmer pondered, "I might have a word with him. Mr Richardson wasn't it?"  
"Yes, but please don't. He hates me enough."  
"He doesn't hate you. No one could hate you."  
_Then why do I have no friends?_

A couple of minutes later she started making her way back, more proud of herself than she had ever been. She got her homework stuff out again and started to fill out all the answer boxes finding very little difficulty.  
"Gemma, what on earth are you doing up at this hour?" her mother asked from behind her.  
"Oh please, Mum, I just had a sudden brainwave about my homework. I won't be long honest."  
"Well, OK. But I want this light turned out in half an hour, alright?"  
"Sure."  
Gemma worked hard for the next thirty minutes and solved more maths problems than she had done her entire life.

A couple of levels down, Rimmer had got out a book called 'Maths Studies – Foundation and Intermediate Level' and started reading, writing out sums and equations and solving them until he could do it with his eyes shut.  
"Rimmer," Lister mumbled from the top bunk, "What the hell are you doing?"  
"I'm working, Lister. Didn't think you'd recognise it."  
"Ha ha. Why are you working so late?"  
"Because…I am." Rimmer said bluntly. He didn't tell Lister the truth because he knew he'd just laugh. He turned the page and began the section on linear graphs.  
"Rimmer, please can I turn out the light?"  
Rimmer suddenly felt a wave of tiredness sweep over him. He rubbed his eyes and nodded, "OK then."  
He wandered over to his bed and fell asleep thinking about the unusual and fantastic events that had happened that evening.


	6. Love

**Author's note: **This chapter has given Lister something to do, because, let's face it, he's done sod all so far. R&R as always you lovely, lovely people!

"Ouch!" Lister fell out of bed with a painful thud. Rimmer woke with a start and looked at Lister lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.  
"Four mornings in a row," he mumbled, "What record are you trying to set? Most drinks in one evening, most hangovers in one week, or most bruises on your hip?"  
"Shuddup," Lister murmured as he heaved himself off the ground and rubbed the back of his neck, "Where were you last night anyway? I came in here expecting to see you filling in your revision timetable and you were nowhere to be seen. Which, incidentally worked out pretty well for me!"  
"Yes, I know. It reminded me to speak to the Captain about my idea for soundproof walls, actually."  
"Ha ha."  
"If you must know, Lister, I was on a date."  
Lister looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious.  
"Really? You? A date?"  
Rimmer nodded. Lister burst out laughing.  
"Who in their right mind would agree to go on a date with you?"  
"It's not such a crazy idea, Lister. Just because you've had half the female population of this ship and I…haven't."  
"Well go on, who was it? Let's see if I've even heard of her."  
"Nicole Adler."  
Lister's eyes widened, "Wow, I actually know her!"  
"You know her?"  
"Well, I know _of_ her. She's one of Kris's friends."  
Rimmer rolled his eyes – trust Lister to somehow come up with a link to Kochanski.  
"Well, yes, that's who it was. And I'd appreciate it if you, you know, kept yourself to yourself. I do rather like her, and I think she likes me back."  
"Aw, Rimmer's in love!" Lister mocked, causing Rimmer to blush scarlet.  
"No I'm not!"  
"OK, OK. I promise I won't do anything to mess it up. But I think that maybe we should come up with some sort of system if we're _both_ gonna be bringing back girls now, not just me. Maybe…I don't know, maybe we could slyly leave a shoe outside the door or something. What do you think?"  
But Rimmer had stopped listening a long time ago. He knew Lister had only been joking when he had said Rimmer was in love with Nicole, but Rimmer wasn't sure if it was true or not, and it was bothering him. He certainly liked her a lot. But could you even fall in love after just one date? He'd always laughed at the whole 'love at first sight' thing, but maybe he'd been too cynical.  
"Rimmer?" Lister asked snapping his fingers in front of Rimmer's face.  
"Sorry," Rimmer muttered shaking his head, "I was…just thinking."  
"About Nicole?"  
"Yes, actually…" he ran his hand through his hair.  
"Rimmer, are you OK?"  
"Um…not sure…"  
"Rimmer, you know I was only kiddin' around back then. Unless," Lister studied Rimmer's face, "Oh my God! Are you?"  
"Am I what?"  
"In love."  
Rimmer shrugged, "How do you know?"  
"You just do," Lister said, seemingly going into some sort of trance.  
Rimmer thought hard, "Well, in that case," he said slowly, "I would have to say…yes I am."


	7. Faiyre

**Author's note: **Faiyre, Gemma's sister, is expanded upon from a couple of chapters ago (she's also become one of my favourite characters along with Nicole and Jesse :D). R&R please.

"So, what was he like?" Faiyre asked her mother, buttering her toast.  
"He was nice," she replied with a ghost of a smile, "Really nice."  
"Nice? You got off with someone who was _nice_? Score…" she said sarcastically.  
"I wish you'd stop talking like that. I didn't 'get off with him', we just had a meal and a walk and a chat-"  
"And a snog."  
"Faiyre!"  
"Well, you did! I heard you singing last night, don't deny it!"  
Gemma skipped into the room, sat down at the table and poured herself an orange juice.  
"What's up with you?" Faiyre asked.  
"Nothing," Gemma replied innocently. Faiyre studied her younger sister carefully.  
"Mum?" she said after a while, "Could Gemma and I leave for school a little early today? I, er, promised to meet Michael."  
"OK then. Have a good day."  
Faiyre dragged Gemma out into the corridor.

"Ow! Faiyre, that was my skin!" Gemma moaned.  
"I don't care, I just want to know where you went last night."  
"I…I didn't go anywhere last night…don't know, don't know what you're talking about."  
"Don't lie to me, Gem. I heard you sneak out."  
"Oh, you want to talk about lying? How _is_ Michael?"  
"Shut up," Faiyre growled.  
"Are you ever gonna tell Mum that you broke up over a month ago?"  
"I will! When the time's right. You know how she gets, I don't want anything to worry her. Which is why you shouldn't be wandering around in the middle of the night. Where did you go?"  
"Just…out."  
"Out?"  
Gemma nodded slowly.  
"Gem, did you meet up with someone?"  
Gemma nodded slowly.  
"A boy…?"  
Gemma nodded slowly.  
"Oh my God! My baby sister has a boyfriend!"  
"Faiyre, keep it down!" Gemma hissed urgently.  
Faiyre clamped her hand over her mouth to stop from screaming and jumped up and down, finally hugging Gemma tightly.  
"Get off!" Gemma complained, "I can't breathe!"  
"Sorry. So what's his name?" Faiyre said, kneeling by Gemma.  
"Er, Arnold."  
"Arnold? That's a bit…19th century, but, whatever."  
"Faiyre, I think you've got it a bit wrong. Arnold isn't my boyfriend."  
"What?"  
"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend."  
"Oh. So…who is your boyfriend?"  
"I don't have a boyfriend!"  
"Oh," Faiyre said sadly, "Well, how do you know this Arnold guy then? Is he in your class?"  
"No. He doesn't go to school."  
"Ooh, bit of a rebel is he?"  
Gemma laughed at the thought of Rimmer head to toe in leather, smoking and scaring off little children who went near him, "Hardly!"  
"So why doesn't he go to school?"  
"He left school ages ago!"  
"What?" Faiyre's expression was suddenly frighteningly serious, "Gemma, how old is he?"  
"I dunno. About…thirty-ish I guess."  
"Oh my God, Gemma, I do not want you going anywhere near him. You don't know what he'll do!"  
Gemma laughed again, "You're talking like he's some sort of paedo or something!"  
"You never know!"  
"I know he'd never hurt me. He's just not that sort of person."  
"Gemma, please-"  
"How can a man who helps a little girl with her maths homework at one in the morning be bad?"  
"Maths homework?"  
"Yes! And he didn't even _want _to let me in!"  
"But he did."  
"Only because I forced him! Faiyre, I know he can help me. I trust him more than I've ever trusted anyone, even you and Mum."  
"You don't even know him!"  
Gemma paused and soaked up this comment.  
"Actually," she said slowly, "I think I know him better than anyone ever has."


	8. Graphed

**Author's note: **OK, so, in chapter 8 I'm finally kicking off and getting nearer to a fanfic which is relevant to its title. That's what poor planning does.

Gemma knocked on the door she had found the night before. Despite Faiyre's warnings, she planned to continue going to see Rimmer.  
"Hi, Gemma," Rimmer said brightly, "I was hoping you'd drop by."  
Gemma smiled, "Really?"  
"Yes. I, er, I was just thinking about something last night. I mean, you probably don't want to, but I think it's worth trying out."  
"What is?"  
Rimmer hesitated; this idea was insane. Gemma wouldn't agree. Even _he_ thought he was crazy. But there was no harm in voicing it…  
"I could be your tutor."  
"But I already go to school…"  
"I know, I know, I just thought you might want a little bit of out-of-school help."  
"From you?"  
"Yes."  
Gemma tilted her head to one side in thought.  
"Are you qualified?"  
"Well…no, not technically. But I spent most of last night reading up on algebra and graphs, and I think I know enough to help you with it."  
"You'd seriously do that for me?"  
Rimmer nodded.  
"With no payment or anything? You'd just…do it?"  
"Yes. You deserve to succeed, Gemma. I don't see why one tetchy little man who clearly can't teach should stand in the way of that."  
Gemma laughed at Rimmer's description of Mr Richardson. She thought about it again. Over the last few days they had really struck up a rapport, and Gemma loved being with him. It felt nice to know that she was with someone who had had a terrible childhood, just like she was having only far, far worse, and had lived through it to get his own life. That's what she craved more than anything, to shed her skin like a snake and slither into a new, happier one. And maybe Rimmer could help her with that. It would have to be totally in secret, and only for an hour or so after school each day otherwise higher authorities – and by that she meant Faiyre – would get suspicious.  
"OK. OK, alright, let's do it!" she said happily.  
"Excellent! Well, do you want to start today? I've got a paper on linear graphs just waiting to be…graphed…" Rimmer concluded feebly making Gemma giggle again.  
"I would, but I've got to get home. I'll tell my mum I'm going to an after-school club or something and I'll come round tomorrow."  
"OK. Bye, Gem."  
Gemma waved and waltzed out of the door.


	9. Family

**Author's note: **I've got hiccups and they're driving me INSANE.

Gemma made sure neither her mother or sister were in the main room before she sneaked in. She quickly got out a random book, hid her bag and coat in a cupboard and jumped onto a chair. And not a moment too soon as Faiyre walked through the door a few seconds later.  
"Where were you after school? I told you I'd wait for you. I stood outside that bloody door for twenty minutes before I realised you'd gone home already."  
"Yeah."  
"And the heating in the corridor had broken."  
"Oh," Gemma said with sincerity, "Sorry. I just…sorry."  
"Ah, that's OK," Faiyre said ruffling her little sister's hair, "I know you can't stand to be around that place. And I don't blame you, either. You know, you should hang around with me and my mates at lunch, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."  
Gemma snorted. The people at her school could tolerate a lot: some would have their heads flung down toilet bowls; some would stab each other with pens and drag it down their arms leaving a painful-looking white streak; some would eat stuff alive for a bet. But she knew that not one of them would be prepared to hang around with her out of lessons, and some had trouble accepting it when they _were_ in lessons. Not all of them were that bad, granted, but at least nine people had actually come up to her and told her what they thought of her. She had a name for these people: whorebags.  
"Nah, that's OK, Faiyre," she replied politely, "I'm alright by myself. I prefer it that way."  
Which was true. It would only stop being true if people began to like her for _her_. And that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Gemma's mum paced into the room.  
"Oh, hi girls! Good day at school?"  
"Same old, same old," they replied in unison.  
"Mum?" Gemma asked, "Is it OK if I go to this after school catch-up thing they've set up?"  
"When is it?" she asked shrugging off her jacket.  
"Every day."  
"You sure?"  
"Positive."  
Gemma's mum leaned on her chair, "Since when were you willing to go to an after-school club? You hate the sociality of it."  
"I…it doesn't bother me as much," she lied, "I've sort of made a friend."  
"Oh, Gemma, that's great! What's their name?"  
"Ar-" she checked herself; it was too risky to say 'Arnold' in front of Faiyre, "Ar…mmmmin. Armin. Armin is his name."  
"Armin? That's unusual."  
Gemma just shrugged, "You can't make it up!"  
Her mother laughed, "No, I suppose not. Anyway, what do you two say to spaghetti bolognese tonight?"  
"Make it with red wine, Mum!" Gemma pleaded, "I like watching Faiyre afterwards!"


	10. Tutoring

**Author's note: **The hiccups have GONE! YAY!

So, for the next week, Gemma and Rimmer settled into a new routine. Gemma would sneak out of school at the end of the day, being careful not to be spotted by Faiyre. By twenty past three she would be at Rimmer's, who would have got rid of Lister if he was there. For an hour they would study whatever Gemma felt she needed to and then leave at twenty past four to be back at home for half past. Rimmer would then spend the evening making learning sheets and revision notes for Gemma's next session until Lister returned. Lister would ask what Rimmer was doing and Rimmer would fob him off with some astronavigation exam revision spiel.  
On the Friday afternoon, Gemma noticed that Rimmer wasn't being as fastidious as he usually was. In fact, he hadn't straightened his pencils so they were parallel to the desk _once_.  
"Done it," Gemma said, pushing her answers over to Rimmer.  
"Mm-hm," Rimmer said distractedly.  
"Er, aren't you gonna mark it?"  
"Yeh," he mumbled. But he didn't move.  
"Rimmer…" Gemma said gently, "Are you OK? You seem a bit distant. Is anything wrong?"  
Rimmer shook his head firmly, "No. No, everything's fine."  
The truth was, he wasn't fine. He wasn't fine at all. He was completely and utterly _un_fine. And the reason for this was: Nicole. He heard from her or seen her since the previous Saturday and it bothered him. She had said she wanted to do see him again. Had that just been a line? Just something to book-end the date and get rid of him? It seemed hard to believe; they had had such lively conversation, and he definitely felt something between them. And that kiss…

He blinked rapidly to wake himself up and glanced over Gemma's answers. All correct.  
"Well done! You're definitely improving," he told her.  
"After four sessions? Yeah, right!"  
"You are, look. One hundred percent!"  
Gemma took the paper and stared at it in amazement.  
"Woah…"  
Rimmer smiled. Gemma had been getting good marks pretty much since Rimmer had explained it all to her, but she never failed to be amazed at it.  
"You know, I got quite high marks in school today," Gemma had remarked the previous day, "I even got the simultaneous equations one right! Can you believe that?"  
"How was school today?" Rimmer asked in the hope of another 'high marks' story.  
"Awful," Gemma replied, and Rimmer's heart sank, "I don't see why I'm forced to go there. I hate the kids at my school. I find it hard enough to talk to people as it is, but when they despise you from the second they set eyes on you…what are you supposed to do?"  
She lowered her head so her chin was resting on her folded arms. She looked so sad and lonely. Rimmer could recognise the look of isolation in her eyes; he used to see it every time he looked in a mirror.  
Rimmer looked at his watch, "Smeg! It's almost half four!"  
"Oh, God!" Gemma hastily scooped up her belongings and stuffed them in her bag, "Thanks, see you on Monday!" and she sprinted out of the room.  
"Bye," Rimmer said to thin air.

Later that evening, as Rimmer was constructing an A3 poster to explain about compound metals (he felt that they had covered enough maths, and next week they were moving on to science) there came a knock on his door. He closed the book he was copying from and walked over to open the door.  
"Nicole!"  
"Hi. I, er, I'm not disturbing you or anything am I?"  
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no. No. No, no, no. Er, no."  
"I came to see you, just to let you know I'm still interested. I'm really sorry I haven't been in touch, I've just been rushed off my feet. I hope you can forgive me."  
Rimmer couldn't believe his ears.  
"Er, well, yes, of course," he managed to mumble.  
"Great!" she said with a smile, "Well, whenever you feel like it, just drop by my room. You know where I am."  
Rimmer nodded mutely. Then, in hideously accurate timing, just as she was kissing him on the cheek, Lister came back from the bathroom.  
"Hey, Rimmer, get in there!"  
"Lister…"  
"OK, sorry, sorry."  
The trio stood in silence for a while before Rimmer piped up, "Oh, Nicole, this is Lister my bunkmate. Although I use the term 'mate' lightly."  
Both Nicole and Lister laughed.  
"So," Lister said, "You're Nicole then. Rimmer told me about you."  
"Oh, really? Nothing incriminating I hope."  
"Oh, God, no. He really likes you-"  
"OK, thank you, Lister!" Rimmer interrupted forcefully, "I can make a fool of myself easily enough, I don't need you to do it for me."  
"You really like me?" Nicole asked curiously.  
"Well…" Rimmer cringed. He'd never been in this position before, and he didn't relish the way he was going to have to get out of it: "Yes, I do."  
After an awkward pause, Nicole threw her arms around Rimmer's neck and kissed him passionately. A good four minutes later, she finally let him breathe. She appeared speechless. Mainly because…she was. She turned to Lister, "Nice to meet you."  
Lister nodded, making strange choking noises. She walked away from the scene before she did anything else. Rimmer looked at Lister and shrugged slowly. Neither of them could quite believe what had just happened. Both were torn between bursting out laughing and fainting.


	11. Sociality

**Author's note: **!Continuity Alert! I said in the last chapter that they were going to study metal compounds, but apparantly they're studying maths again. And I can't be bothered to change it. Please don't lower your opinion of me!

Gemma racked her brain, "Um…tw-twenty…" she stuttered whilst Rimmer nodded encouragement, "twenty…two?"  
"Close," Rimmer corrected her, "Twenty four. Remember how we should carry the two?" he showed her the page in the textbook they had just revised. She didn't look at it. She didn't look up at all. She just stared disheartened at the floor. Rimmer gazed at her for a while then snapped the book closed.  
"Why don't we take a break from studying and go for a drink or something?"

It wasn't a study break, although Rimmer didn't let this on to Gemma; this was a study in social interaction. The plan was that they would find somewhere to get a drink and a snack, then Rimmer would pretend to see someone who he urgently needed to talk to, give Gemma the money and ask her to get the drinks for them. It would undoubtedly boost her confidence and make her more comfortable with other people. It was an excellent plan, if Rimmer were to be so cocky. Well, he _was _that cocky. It _was_ an excellent plan! So excellent, in fact, that no sooner had he arrived at the Café Verde (a poky little coffee shop that Rimmer tended to avoid purely because there were usually lots of people there – the very reason he had picked it on this occasion) than he saw Nicole sitting at a table by herself, her hands wrapped around a blue glass. _Kill two birds with one stone_, Rimmer thought to himself. He rummaged through his pocket to find the change and forced it into Gemma's tense fingers.  
"Why don't you get the drinks, Gemma?" He continued despite the horror he could see building in her eyes, "I've just seen someone I really need to speak to. Just order then find a table to sit at; I'll join you soon. I'll have a cappuccino and get whatever you want for yourself." He smiled reassuringly at her and she nodded stiffly. She turned towards the bar and looked up at the man who was standing behind it – a big, burly man with about a gazillion dreadlocks all tied up in a ponytail. Gemma had never been more frightened. She walked up to the counter and managed to squeak out, "A cappuccino and a…and an orange juice," before hastily adding, "please."  
The man nodded and smiled; this somehow made him less scary. She felt herself straighten up a little.  
"Tall or Grande?" Dreadlock Man asked.  
"Pardon?"  
"The cappuccino – do you want it Tall or Grande?" he repeated patiently.  
"Er…" Rimmer hadn't said. What should she do? "Er, Tall?" She guessed. Dreadlock Man smiled again and poured the drink. Even she had to admit she was doing pretty well. She took the two drinks and carefully carried them over to a table. It wasn't the table she had really wanted to sit at (the one that was away from the busiest part of the café) but she didn't trust herself not to spill any. She sat. And waited.

Meanwhile, Rimmer made his way over to Nicole.  
"Hi," he said as he approached her.  
"Oh, hi!" She said looking up, "I was wondering if I'd see you again. Especially after what I did the last time…sorry about that, by the way."  
"Oh, that's OK! It was nice to see Lister speechless, for once."  
Nicole laughed, "Well, fancy meeting you here."  
"Small world," Rimmer agreed, "I mean, small ship. Not that it's that small, I mean, it's five miles…" he trailed off, "Sorry."  
Rimmer wondered if this social interaction study was for Gemma or for him. Nicole just giggled, "Well, anyway, it is very weird seeing you here. I, er, I don't usually come here. Too crowded for my liking."  
"Yeah, me too! I don't come here very often either."  
"Huh! Wow, so it must have been fate that brought us together then!" she paused, "I mean, not that I think…I don't believe in…I just meant…" she staggered to a halt before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Oh, that's just great," she muttered, "shut up, Nikki."  
Rimmer smiled, "It's no problem, really. I just saw you and wondered if you wanted to set a time for dinner."  
"Oh, OK, um…well, how about around seven-thirty?"  
"Sounds good. I'll see you then."  
"Yep, see you."  
And Rimmer had a second date.

He searched the restaurant for Gemma and eventually found her, orange juice half-drunk, an agitated aura about her.  
"What's up?" he said sitting down.  
"I did it!" Gemma said ecstatically. Rimmer smiled, "I knew you could."  
"Um, I've just got a message from my mum," Gemma continued (Rimmer couldn't help but notice the sudden brightness in her tone of voice), "I have to be back for half-six. She's going out tonight and she needs time to find a babysitter. Hey," an idea struck her, "Unless you babysit!"  
Rimmer raised an eyebrow; before he'd met Gemma that idea would have been laughable, but now, if he wasn't unavailable, he would jump at the chance, "I'm sorry, Gemma, I'm busy tonight. Any other time you know I would."  
Gemma nodded and finished off her drink while Rimmer only just started on his.  
"Can I have another?" Gemma asked.  
"Sure," Rimmer said getting up. Gemma raised a hand, "No, no, um, it's OK. I'll get it myself. I've still got the change from these drinks. There should be enough." She hopped down from the seat and meandered over to the counter. Rimmer shook his head and sat back down. This truly _was_ excellent!


	12. Newcomers

**Author's note: **Wow, I have had a lot of arguments with rimmerslittlevoodoodoll over who is more obsessed about Chris Barrie, involving lots of picture swaps (and by picture swaps I mean that I stole every one she put up : P) – but I still got this done! Anyway, there are four names here you may recognise. They are, in no particular order, Sunrise over the Tango Factory (Bex), Raging Tree Trunk (Liz), rimmerslittlevoodoodoll (Robyn) and reddwarfaddict (Laura). I luv these guys so much and I want to commemorate them. So I have. Sorry about the weird ending but I wanted to finish it quickly; Laura helped me a LOT (thank you babe!) and I couldn't have done it without her. R&R please.

Gemma ran towards Rimmer's quarters as fast as she could, taking the long route so she could hopefully lose the kids who were chasing her. This plan worked for a while as she did lose them, but she hadn't accounted for the part where she had to walk past the Xpress lift – right past a group of children waiting for a ride home. If they saw her going in the wrong direction there would be questions, there was no doubt. She tried her best to sneak around them but it was too late.  
"Hey!" one girl called out, "It's that kid who rebelled against Richardson!" Gemma froze.  
"Oh yeah," another girl agreed.  
"Woo! Rock on, girl!" yet another girl cheered. Gemma turned around to see four smiling faces. The fourth girl put a hand on Gemma's shoulder, "You're an icon, mate."  
Gemma tried so hard not to smile.  
"What's your name?" one asked.  
"G-gemma."  
"G-gemma? That's a strange name."  
"No, Liz, her name is Gemma. You're just making her nervous."  
"Shut up, no I'm not! I bet it's you with your chunky man fingers!"  
"We have had this discussion…" she replied patiently.  
"Liz, Bex," one of the others interjected, "Can we move on from this 'chunky man fingers' thing. It's getting old."  
"Sorry, Robyn," they replied in unison.  
"So, Gemma," the fourth girl asked her, "How did it feel to shout at the most evil teacher ever?"  
"Err…"  
"See!" Liz squeaked, "I'm not the only one making her nervous! Laura is as well!"  
"Shut _up_, Liz!" Bex moaned.  
"Right, fine, I'm going. I know when I'm not wanted," Liz said dramatically and stormed off down the corridor. The others let her.  
"Aren't you going to go and see if she's OK?" Gemma asked quietly.  
"Nah," Laura replied, "She's always doing this."  
"If we had a quid for every time she walked off with no explanation…" Bex pondered to herself, but was cut off. She had been watching Liz walk down the corridor and she had crashed straight into Gary and Sam, the two toughest kids on the ship. Well, Sam was the toughest kid and Gary agreed with everything he said. Liz made a quick u-turn and headed back, but Sam grabbed her shoulder and span her back round.  
"Hey, you'll look at me when I'm talking to you!" his voice was deep and menacing, "Have you seen a little kid around here? Red hair, small?" Liz shook her head firmly. Sam growled and looked up, "Never mind…" he said as his eye caught Gemma who cringed; these were the boys who were chasing her five minutes ago. They started walking towards her but Gary spotted someone else…

"Look, boss, it's that girl who took your seat at lunchtime," he said pointing at Robyn.  
"Ah, so it is. Well, you've got a nerve showing up around here haven't you?"  
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about," Robyn said nervously.  
"You should."  
Robyn whimpered whilst Laura, Bex, Liz and Gemma watched in fright. Suddenly, an image of Rimmer flashed in Gemma's mind. She felt her confidence build; this was the sort of challenge he would set her.  
She swallowed hard, "Look, let's just look at the real issue here…"  
"Don't you start with me-"  
"No!" Gemma interrupted forcefully, "Don't _you_ start with _me_!"  
Liz nearly fainted.  
"Can't you see you're only doing all this because no one likes you? Even your little sidekick tags along purely out of fear!" she waved her hand towards Gary who looked at the floor, "If you took the time to get to know people instead of bullying them all the time maybe you'd have a happier life."  
"You wanna watch what you're saying to me!"  
"She's got a point," someone in the crowd murmured. Sam spun round.  
"Who said that?"  
No one responded, but a couple of people whispered agreements. These whispers gradually built up to a buzz of muttering, which built up to shouts in Sam's direction, which built up to boos and hissing (one person even threw an apple at Sam's disbelieving face). Sam found himself immersed in the mass of hysteria. Gemma and the others took this as their cue to scarper.

When they reached Rimmer's quarters, Gemma span round.  
"Er, I don't mean to sound rude but, could you leave?"  
The others looked amongst themselves.  
"Why?" they asked in unison.  
"Well, I…I'm here because…you see…" she realised she wasn't going to get out of this. She looked at Laura who she knew was in her maths class, "You know I've never been fantastic at maths?"  
"Hey, you're getting better!" Laura replied putting a hand on her shoulder.  
"Yes, that's the point. I've been having private tutoring. But no one knows. He'd get into so much trouble if anyone found out. And so would I."  
Laura looked curious, "Personal tutoring? Like, he teaches you maths and stuff?"  
"He teaches me everything: maths, science, geography, astronomy, and…" she wasn't sure if she should mention the social studies, "history.Everything."  
"D'you…" Laura said quietly, "Er, d'you think he'd, you know, teach me as well?"  
"Oh, um…" Gemma didn't think he'd like that. But then again she hadn't thought he'd ever suggest being her tutor in the first place, "I'd have to ask him."  
Laura nodded.  
"Actually," Bex said, "I'm having trouble with astronavigation. Does he teach that?"  
"Well, yes, but…"  
"So am I," Robyn agreed, "It's that stupid Miss Redman. She doesn't make it clear at all."  
"And she can't spell!" Liz joined in, "Lucky she doesn't teach English otherwise I'd be failing miserably!"  
Gemma could see where this was going. To avoid a long discussion she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Rimmer jumped a little when he opened it.  
"Er, hi, Gem," he stuttered.  
"Hi Arn. This is Laura, Liz, Bex, and Robyn," she strained to remember.  
The four girls smiled.  
"Um, hello."  
"Could they…d'you think they could join in today?"  
"Join in what?"  
"Tutoring!"  
"Um…" Rimmer was shaking. Teaching Gemma was fine, and he probably could cope with one other person, but _five _of them? "Sure," he heard himself say and numbly stepped to one side to let them in.  
As it turned out, it was one of the best decisions he ever made.


	13. Revelations

**Author's note: **AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! Bex will tell you the problems I've been having with this chapter. But I've done it. I've actually done it!

Rimmer watched the girls carefully as they scribbled their answers furiously. It was incredible: three weeks ago they wouldn't have known what fractional distillation was to save their lives; now they didn't seem to have enough time to get down all their knowledge! Rimmer glanced at his watch.  
"Pens down!"  
"Oh!" Bex moaned, "Just one more minute! I know it, honest!"  
"Rebecca..."  
Robyn leaned over to Bex, "Just do what he says, Bex. He knows best."  
"You're only saying that 'cos you're practically in love with him!" Bex retorted. Gemma, Liz and Laura spluttered with laughter. Robyn and Rimmer turned red. Bex grinned.  
"It's true!" Laura said, "You've got 'I love AR' all over your books!"  
"So? That doesn't necessarily mean Rimmer!"  
"Well who else does it mean then?"  
"Just shut up! And you take it back!" Robyn yelled.  
"Shan't," Bex stated.  
"You take it back RIGHT NOW!"  
"Or what?"  
"I don't know!" Robyn squeaked, "I'll go on about your Chunky Man Fingers."  
"Don't you dare!"  
"Go on, Robyn," Liz joined in, "You know you want to!"  
"You can shut up as well!"  
"Girls!" Rimmer snapped, "That's enough!"  
"Sorry, sir," they said in unison.  
"Besides," he continued with a dry grin, "I'm accounted for."  
"Who?" Laura asked.  
"Never you mind! You're here to learn, not to gossip."  
The whole class groaned.  
"All you need to know is that I'm seeing her tonight at seven at Parrot's Café," the information spurted out of his mouth before he could stop it. The girls looked amongst themselves. Rimmer could practically see their plan hatching in front of his eyes.  
"Don't think you lot are going to be there! Just remember," he rustled their papers to illustrate his point, "I can make or break your grade on this thing."

Rimmer sat at the table Nicole had booked for them and waited. He was much less nervous this time. Since the whole extremely-passionate-kiss-in-front-of-Lister fiasco he had had no doubts that this woman liked him. And he certainly didn't have any doubts that he liked her back. She arrived slightly late and very apologetic.  
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry," she babbled as she sat with him, "Babysitter problems. Faiyre, that's my eldest, she kept on at me that she could take care of things, but I just don't trust her enough," she looked at Rimmer's expression and apologised again, "Sorry, that's not interesting."  
Rimmer blinked. He had been completely lost in her from the second she walked through the door.  
"How are you?" he smiled.  
"I'm fine, thank you," she replied, "You?"  
"I'm not sure."  
"Oh? What's the problem?"  
"Er," Rimmer squeaked. He couldn't believe he was going to say this. Him. Arnold J. Rimmer. He took a deep breath, "Nikki, I know this is only our fourth date, but I really feel a strong connection between us. Ever since I first met you I've wanted to get to know you better, and I'm glad I did. I just want you to know that…well…Nikki, I think I'm in lo-"  
"Are you ready to order?" a bright young waitress interrupted. Rimmer fought back the urge to take his water and tip it over her head. Then smash her face in with her tray. Then force-feed her one of the God-awful omelettes they made here.  
"Not just yet, thank you," he said, politely. The waitress smiled and glided back to the counter.  
"You were saying…" Nicole prompted Rimmer, but it was too late. His nerve had gone.  
"Doesn't matter," he muttered, "It can wait."  
They spent the rest of the evening laughing and chatting as they usually did, all the time Rimmer trying to pick a good moment to attempt to tell her what he had wanted to tell her since the evening of their first date. He never got a chance and before he knew it, both their meals had been eaten and they were ready to leave.  
At the exit the footman handed Rimmer his coat, "For you, sir."  
Rimmer nodded and took it.  
"And for your wife," he handed Nicole her coat. Rimmer froze while Nicole laughed.  
"We're not married," she informed the footman who seemed taken aback.  
"Really? But you seem so…never mind."  
Nicole laughed again, shook her head and waltzed out of the door. Rimmer stiffly followed her.

As they did on every date they went on, they ended up at the botanical gardens. They sat on a bench and there was a silence. Rimmer knew this was the ideal time to say it. It was peaceful, there were flowers all around them, and a moon was glinting through one of the windows. But he was scared. Scared that she'd laugh at him. Scared that she'd walk away from him. And probably the most scared that she'd say it back. Nicole must have sensed something was bothering him because she put a hand on his knee.  
"OK, what's the problem? You've been weird all night."  
"Nikki, I…" oh, God, how should he say this? Should he be suave like he says it all the time? Or nervous so he seemed vulnerable? How much emotion should he put into it? And how much would make him seem desperate? He looked into her eyes and it came to him: he should say it how he means it.  
"Nikki, I love you."  
"Oh, Arnie…" she sighed and kissed him. When she drew back she said four words – just four – and Rimmer was sent to Cloud 9, "I love you, too."


	14. Secrets

**Author's note: **Ssshh, I'm on a roll:D

"Yo, Gemma!" Liz called. Gemma span round and saw her four friends standing there and waving. She waved back and ran over to them.  
"Hiya!" she said brightly, "Ready for tutoring?"  
"Ssh!" Laura hushed her, "Keep it down, there's loads of people here! We can't get caught!"  
"Sorry," Gemma whispered.  
"I…I'm not sure I want to go today," Robyn muttered.  
"Why not?" Liz asked.  
"No real reason, I just…don't really feel like it."  
"Is this 'cos Rimmer knows you're in love with him?" Bex asked.  
"Shut up! I'm not 'in love' with him! And that's not the reason anyway."  
"Why, then?" Gemma asked.  
"It's just…" her lip trembled, "OH, I CANT BELIEVE HE'S TAKEN!" she wailed.  
It took a solid seven minutes to calm her down.  
"Look, I don't care what you say, I'm not going today."  
A boy tapped Laura on her shoulder, "Can I go instead then?"  
Laura feigned innocence, "Hm? Go where?"  
"Tutoring," the boy whispered, "I heard you lot go to private tutoring, and I was just wondering if I could join in."  
"How did you find out about that?" Gemma hissed.  
"Well, word's been getting about. I reckon half the school knows by now."  
"What?" screamed five voices simultaneously.  
"Look, my name's Armin, and-"  
"Armin?" Gemma interrupted.  
"Yes…" the boy said, confused, "Why?"  
"Nothing," Gemma replied with the hint of a smile, "Unusual name, that's all."  
Armin studied Gemma for a while before shaking his head dismissively, "I need help. I'm failing Bio-engineering. I need to get the theory part up to scratch so I can take it for Further Studies."  
"Well…" Laura started, "It's not that we don't want you to come…it's just…"  
"We're not sure what our tutor would say," Bex finished.  
"Yeah," Liz agreed, "He might not let you in. He very nearly didn't let _us_ in!"  
Armin looked disappointed.  
"But," Gemma sighed resignedly, "We can always ask."

Laura knocked on the now-familiar door. Rimmer opened it before she'd even stopped.  
"Hi girls!" he greeted them then saw Armin, "And boy…" he added confused, "who is this?"  
"Armin," the boy in question replied, "I, er, I was hoping to join your tutoring classes."  
Rimmer sighed. He really hadn't bargained for this.  
"Well now, you do realise I'm not a qualified teacher."  
"Yes. But all theses guys have had their grades go up," he indicated the five girls, "and I want that, too."  
Rimmer frowned, but Armin continued, "It's only one subject I need help in! Just Bio-engineering. Please?"  
Rimmer's frown dissolved a little, "Oh, alright. I can give you lessons every…er, every…"  
"Tuesday," Liz supplied.  
"Yes. We have Bio-engineering lessons then anyway."  
"And what about Jack and Roger?" Armin asked hopefully, "Can they come too?"  
Rimmer had pretty much given up, "Fine."

* * *

Anyone under 18 will tell you word spreads fast in schools. Soon Rimmer had hordes of children gathering outside his room each day asking him to teach them various subjects. Within a week his total students had reached a total of sixty-two. Thankfully, most of them only took one or two subjects with him. In fact, it was only Gemma, Bex, Laura, Liz and Robyn who attended all subjects with him. But he found himself working a lot harder anyway. On top of a day fixing and cleaning vending machines, Rimmer then had to come home, teach for an hour, then revise the next day's subject until he was too tired to revise any more. Luckily the rewards he got for it were worthwhile; everyone's grades started to improve. The only downside to this was that Captain Hollister and the Red Dwarf Council attributed this to the school which started to win awards. Rimmer couldn't help feeling jealous, but he didn't let it interfere.

* * *

"Now, have you completed your essays?" Rimmer asked. Five hands shot in the air with bits of paper attached to the ends, "Good! Any volunteers to read them out?"  
He looked pointedly at Gemma who pleadingly shook her head. Rimmer sighed. She hid it behind a false layer of self-mocking and jokes, but Gemma was good at English. More than good. Her stories were the most vivid Rimmer had ever read. Not that she didn't have competition with the other four who were also excellent writers, but she could certainly hold her own.  
Rimmer sighed and nodded at Liz who read out her vivid story about a treasure hunt. Bex proceeded to read her take on vegetarianism in 18th century France, an obscure topic, but one she had managed to illustrate beautifully. Laura read her description of a nightmare world, with plenty of torture and blood which was so believable Rimmer nearly fainted on a fair few occasions. Finally, Robyn gave her pen portrait of the person she most admired.  
"You should have seen her original version," Bex couldn't help but say, "She kept going on about how gorgeous Rimmer is, and how she wants to leap on him every time she hears his voi-"  
"Shut UP!" Robyn screamed, "I have enough of that at school!"  
Rimmer was secretly chuffed that they thought about him outside their lessons, but he maintained his 'teacher' persona and calmly said, "Girls, settle down."  
The rest of the lesson passed in a not-too-awkward silence until Rimmer glanced at his watch and dismissed them. All of them sauntered out except Robyn who hung back.  
"Sir?" she said.  
"Mm."  
"Do you…I mean…are you happy? With that person."  
Rimmer looked up, "Do you mean Nicole?"  
Robyn looked at the floor and nodded.  
"Yes, Robyn. Very happy."  
"Dammit," Robyn whispered.  
"Robyn, we've had this conversation," Rimmer said gently, "You're far too young."  
"But-"  
"No buts."  
"But-"  
"No!"  
Robyn sighed, turned and made her way towards the door. She turned back just before she got there, "Sir, I…um…"  
She couldn't speak. Words couldn't express it. Instead she dropped her bag, ran over to him, leapt on him and ran her hand through his hair.  
"Mumphedy!" was all that Rimmer could exclaim in surprise as he tried to prise her fingernails out of his back.  
"Sir, please, I love you!"  
"Robyn," Rimmer said, finally getting the use of his vocal chords back, "You don't love me."  
"I do!"  
"You don't! You may think you do, but you don't."  
After a _very_ awkward silence, Robyn slipped off him, robotically picked her bag up and shuffled out of the room with not a word uttered. Rimmer leant his elbow on the desk and rested his head in his hand.  
"Unbe-smegging-lievable."  
His eyes scanned the room for something to focus on. They settled on a small blue bag at the back of the room. He went over to it and picked it up. It was Gemma's. Rimmer laughed; he could see what she'd done. She hated PE and was trying to get out of it by 'losing' her kit. He set off to her room to give it back.

"Room 474. Floor 35," he said to himself when he arrived for no real reason. He knocked on the door and Gemma answered it.  
"Oh, hi!" she said brightly. Her eyes lowered and she noticed the bag in his hand. Her tone became more despondent, "Oh…"  
"Yes. 'Oh'," Rimmer said forcing it into her hands, "Don't think you can get out of it, Gem!"  
Gemma sighed. She was so sure that would have worked!  
"Gemma!" a voice came from the room, "Who is it?"  
Rimmer nearly fainted. He knew that voice. He knew that voice very well. The voice of the angel in his life. The voice that he imagined and soothed him to sleep. Nicole's voice.  
"Just a friend, Mum," Gemma called back.  
"Got to go," Rimmer said hurriedly.  
"What? Why?"  
"Just do. Bye," Rimmer ran off.  
He felt sick and confused. _Room 474. Floor 35. _Why hadn't he made that smegging connection before? He'd heard Gemma talk of her sister Faiyre. He'd heard Nicole talk of her daughter Faiyre. How many 16-year-olds could there be on this ship called Faiyre? He had been seriously stupid, blinded by his love for both of them. The first thing he did when he got back to his room was collapse onto his bed and hug his knees. This was all very weird. Too weird. He fainted.


	15. Pierced

**Author's note: **This chapter was originally going to come much earlier in the fic, but then I realised that Nicole would probably be too distraught to agree to go on another date with Rimmer. So, there you go. Bit of insider info there! From here until the end it's gonna be quite dark. Just warning you. R&R please!

Luckily for Rimmer the next day was a Saturday which meant he didn't have to face Gemma. Or Nicole. Or anyone. He shut himself away and tried to figure out how this complicated tangle of love and lies was going to fall into place.

* * *

"Mu-um?" Gemma called right into Faiyre's ear, who remained perfectly still other than to turn the page in her magazine.  
"She's not here," she said silkily, brushing a piece of her hair out of her face. Gemma studied her sister more carefully. There was something different…  
"OH MY GOD!" Gemma screamed, "You've had your lip pierced!"  
"Shhh, I know!" Faiyre said, "Shut up! I don't want Mum to find out!"  
Gemma laughed in disbelief, "You don't want her to find out?" she asked incredulously, "There's no chance in Hell she won't notice it. Unless you get a time machine and go back in time to persuade your past self not to do it. What were you thinking?"  
"So, what did you want Mum for?"  
"Faiyre! Don't try avoiding this!"  
"Bite me."  
Gemma sighed with impatience; she'd learnt long ago she could never win an argument with anyone, more so her older sister.  
She didn't have to wait too long as her mother stepped through the door not ten minutes later with two arms full of papers and documents looking very flustered. Faiyre subtly propped her head up on her arm so it covered her lip.  
"Faiyre," she sounded flustered too, "Could you get dinner on the go for me, sweetheart?"  
Faiyre nodded and walked briskly out of the door.  
"I guess you've got a lot of work to do tonight," Gemma said eyeing the massive pile of papers.  
"Actually, no. I did all this while I was at work so I could spend the evening with my two favourite girls."  
"They're showing 'Thelma and Louise'?" Gemma joked. Nicole laughed and hugged her.  
"Come on," she said, "Let's go help Faiyre with dinner."

But Faiyre wasn't in the kitchen. She had locked herself away in her room.  
"Faiyre," her mum rapped on the door, "Will you please come out."  
"I don't want to," came Faiyre's voice.  
"Mum," Gemma said softly, "Er, Faiyre wasn't feeling too well when I got in. I think she wants to rest."  
"Oh, OK. Well, we'll just order a pizza or something. Have a girls' night in!"  
Gemma nodded with excitement; she couldn't remember the last time her mum had had time for a girls' night in.  
"I'll have pizza," Faiyre called, "the usual: half-fat cheese with extra everything."  
Gemma's mother turned to her slowly, "I thought you said she was ill…"  
"She, um…" Gemma stopped. There was absolutely no point in continuing.  
"Faiyre, come out of there now!"  
"No!"  
"Faiyre, I'm warning you, open this door or I'm cutting off your allowance."  
"Oh no," Faiyre replied sarcastically, "Big whoop."  
"Faiyre, I-"  
"Why are you so bothered anyway? It's not like you usually take an interest in me. Or Gemma, come to that. You're _always_ too busy. We haven't had a proper family meal in ages, it's always interrupted by someone from work calling you out! I'm sick of it!"  
Gemma knew Faiyre had gone too far, but she also knew it had to be said, so she just looked at the floor when her mother looked at her.  
"Faiyre, you know I'd rather stay here with you and Gem. I want that more than anything, but it's just not possible! I have to keep up the income to feed and clothe you!"  
"Well, _I'll _get a job then!"  
"Don't be stupid, you have to focus on your education."  
"Screw my education! I didn't even _go_ to school today!"  
"What?" Gemma and Nicole asked in unison.  
"That's right. I took the day off."

Before Gemma knew what was happening, Faiyre had swung open the door and her mum had nearly fainted.  
"Faiyre! What the hell have you done to yourself?"  
"You like?"  
Gemma buried her face in her hands. She could see where this was going.  
"Right, that's it," Nicole said firmly, "Out."  
"What?"  
"Get out."  
Faiyre stood stock still trying to figure out if she was serious.  
"Come on!" Nicole repeated, "You think you can just do what you want, you think you can handle it, then go. Move out. Find your own place."  
Gemma looked up, "No, Mum, you can't!"  
"No, Gem" Faiyre said quietly, "She's right. I should go. I've never been welcome here, have I? Ever since Gemma came along. You always resented me. Just because her father stuck around a couple of weeks longer than mine."  
"What are you talking about, Faiyre," Gemma asked, "We have the same father, don't we?"  
"Oh, stop being so smegging naïve!" Faiyre shouted and walked quickly out of the room, leaving the remaining occupants in a state of shock.

* * *

"You lied to me," Gemma whispered to her mum after she had been given a cup of cocoa, "You totally lied to me."  
"Gemma-"  
"And it wasn't even a little white lie, like, 'no one noticed you knocking over the set of the nativity scene half-way through the play'. You lied about…about who I was."  
"I didn't lie about who you were, Gem. You'll always be you, no matter what," she sighed, "I thought it would be better for you to believe you had a kind man for a father, not that drunken, illiterate coward."  
Gemma didn't stop the tears, "You lied…" she repeated.  
"Gemma, please, I was looking out for you! You know I only want the best for you."  
Gemma stared at her for a while then shook her head, "You say that a lot, don't you?"  
"What?"  
"'You know'. You say it like I'm supposed to automatically trust what you say. Well why the hell should I? Why don't you earn that trust for once?" Gemma got up and left the room.

She ran down the labyrinth of corridors. She knew exactly where she was going. To the only person who would listen. He'd run away from home, too. He'd divorced his parents. He would understand.


	16. Split

**Author's note: **Between revision (pah!), collecting 80s cartoon's theme tunes (woo!), playing on Neopets (yay!) getting robbed (boo!), throwing shoes through windows (shhh…), correcting Bex's erratic speech-marking (contagious!) and telling people how sexy Ralph Raccoon is (don't ask), I ACTUALLY MANAGED TO GET THIS DONE!

Rimmer paced in his room trying to figure out what to do. He'd never been in this situation before and he had sort of hoped he never would. But here he was. And he was stuck. A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. He wouldn't have answered it if it hadn't sounded so urgent. Maybe Lister was running away from one of his many girlfriends…  
"Gemma!" he cried.  
"Hi," she said, tears smeared on her cheeks.  
"What on earth happened?" Rimmer asked.  
"My sister 'happened'," she said angrily, "I hate her!"  
"Why? What did she do?"  
"She had an argument with my mum," Rimmer froze at the mention of Nicole, but let Gemma continue, "because…well, first of all because she pierced her lip, but that spiralled into a huge row about, well, pretty much everything. Faiyre got annoyed that Mum's never around, then Mum complained that Faiyre was being unreasonable, then Fayire threatened to leave and…" she paused to wipe away a stray tear, "and Mum didn't stop her."  
"So then _you _left?" Rimmer said.  
"Well…Faiyre said something about…about my father. He…he…he wasn't Faiyre's father. Just mine."  
"That's not so bad, Gemma," Rimmer comforted her.  
"You're only saying that because you have no idea what it feels like! You know who your father is!"  
Rimmer broke eye contact with Gemma. The truth was, he had never been certain if his father actually was his father. His mother had always had a thing for his Uncle Frank, and he knew that she had had sex with him. More than once. There was a remote possibility…  
Rimmer shook his head firmly; he didn't like to think about it.  
"I'm never going back," Gemma mumbled.  
"What?" Rimmer asked sharply, "You have to go back! It's your home!"  
"SOME HOME!" Gemma yelled, "A sister that walked out, a mother that lies, no father! Sorry for being pedantic but I'd like a home that was a bit more 'homey' than that."  
"Gem, go home and talk to your mother. She adores you. You and your sister. I'm sure she'd want to talk things over."  
"How do you know? You don't know her."  
Rimmer grimaced. It was time to come clean.  
"Your mother's been seeing someone, hasn't she? She did tell you?"  
"Yessss…" Gemma could predict his next sentence to the very stutter.  
"Well, you see, er, that would be…well, me."  
Gemma was stunned into silence.

"Gemma?" Rimmer asked tentatively after she hadn't spoken for eight minutes.  
"No," Gemma replied distantly, "No, you can't be. M-mum said she was in love with…with whoever it is. Can't be you…"  
Rimmer just looked at her. She wiped away the tears that had swelled in her eyes.  
"Oh, God," she whimpered, "this is bad."  
"Why?"  
"She's gonna flip out. When she finds out we've both been lying to her-"  
"Hey, hey!" Rimmer comforted her, "I'm sure she'll be fine about it."  
"Oh, yeah!" Gemma said sarcastically burying her face in her hands. After a little while she re-emerged, "Maybe she doesn't need to find out. We don't need to tell her, right?"  
"Gemma, I really think we should."  
Gemma sighed despairingly and hit her fist against the wall.  
"Gemma," Rimmer continued, "Loving someone means being totally one hundred percent honest with them."  
Gemma spluttered with ironic laughter, "Yeah right! Neither one of us has told my mum about this tutoring thing. You didn't tell me you were going out with my mum! She didn't tell me about my real father! Honesty isn't always the best policy and you know it."  
"That's not true! Look how awkward all the lies have made each of our lives! We're constantly tip-toeing around each other trying not to get caught. And it's hard because we spend so much time together."  
"Mum doesn't spend all that much time with me…" Gemma mumbled.  
"Gem, that's a different issue. Let's focus," he paced the room for a bit then said calmly, "Let's just tell her everything. Then she can make her own decision."  
"Decision about what?"  
"About…everything."  
Rimmer hoped she wouldn't make the decision he was imagining in his head. He couldn't bear never seeing her again.

Nicole opened the door to her daughter. She smiled apologetically, "Gemma, honey, I'm so so so sorry. I just-"  
"Mum, can I just say something?"  
Nicole nodded.  
"I…I need to confess something. I haven't been going to after-school catch-up sessions. Well, technically I have, but they're not really authorised."  
"What?" Nicole screeched, "Well, who's been running these so-called 'sessions'?"  
Rimmer stepped sheepishly into the doorframe.  
"Arn! What a surprise! Oh, sorry, Gemma this is Arnold Rimmer. He's the man that-"  
"You've been seeing," she finished, "I know. Mum, he's the one that…well…he's been-"  
"It was me, Nikki," Rimmer took over, "I've been tutoring Gemma after school."  
"What?" Nicole repeated, "Were either of you ever going to tell me this?"  
"We're telling you now," Gemma said, "I just found out that he's the guy you've been seeing. The one…the one you're in love with."  
Both Rimmer and Nicole squirmed with awkwardness.  
"I can't believe this!" Nicole exclaimed, "Gem, you lied to me! You _both _lied to me!"  
"Well, you lied to _me_!" Gemma retorted.  
"Gemma, we'll further this conversation in the morning. Right now I want you to go to bed."  
"No! I want to sort this out now!"  
"Gemma, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Go to bed!"  
After a moment's indecision and a reassuring nod from Rimmer she eventually trudged off to her room, slammed the door and pressed her ear up against it.  
"I'm so sorry, Nikki," Rimmer said sincerely, tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder, "I didn't mean to hurt you."  
"It's sickening," Nicole said shrugging him off, "How could anyone take a child into their home and not tell anyone? Not even their parents! It's…it's just wrong!"  
"Nik, it wasn't like that."  
"Like what?"  
"Like…like what you're thinking."  
"I'm not thinking anything!"  
"I think you are! I think you're thinking that I'm thinking of…hang on I've lost track…"  
Nicole folded her arms impatiently.  
"Look," Rimmer said conclusively, "I would never hurt Gemma in any way. I really do care about her a lot. I felt like a father to her long before I found out she was your daughter. I mean, not saying that I want to actually _be_ her father, I just…I…smeg!" Rimmer cursed. He would have to get better at saying long sentences around Nicole if he had any chance with her left at all.  
"I understand what you're saying," Nicole said quietly, "and it is a relief to hear. But…I just can't trust you any more."  
As far as conversations went, Rimmer had had better.  
"Nicole, please, we can make this work, I know we can!"  
"I don't-"  
"_Please_?" he pleaded, "I love you. More than I thought was possible."  
Nicole fought back the tears, "I love you too. At least, I did. Now I'm not so sure."  
"God…" Rimmer whispered.  
"Maybe we can be friends," Nicole said softly and slowly as though she was forcing the words out of her mouth.  
"What?" Rimmer asked.  
"I need to be in a relationship that offers me more security than this. I'm sorry."  
Rimmer was stunned into silence.  
"I think it goes without saying," Nicole continued, "That I don't want you to see Gemma again. If I hear any more about this little after-school tea parties I'm going to alert the authorities."  
There was a ghostly silence.  
"I really am sorry," Nicole repeated.  
"Not as sorry as I am," Rimmer murmured before turning round and walking out the door.

Nicole gently pushed open the door to her daughter's room.  
"Listen, Gem, I'm only doing this for you own good. I've just told Arnold now I'm telling you. You're not to-"  
"See him ever again, I know," Gemma ended the sentence whilst covering her face with her pillow.  
"Good. Well, goodnight."  
"Yeah…" Gemma muttered. She waited about an hour after she heard her mother close her bedroom door then got up, hastily grabbing the first piece of clothing she found and pulling it on.  
The next morning Nicole opened Gemma's door to find no sign of her anywhere. She sighed and mumbled to herself, "No prizes for guessing where she is."


	17. Persuasion

**Author's note: **Why do I only get inspiration for every other chapter? Grr…

Nicole stormed down the corridor and knocked firmly on the door. Lister answered it.  
"Ah, Nicole. Thank God you're here, maybe you can talk to Rimmer. He's been in a right state all night."  
Nicole felt a pang of guilt, "Really?"  
"Oh, yeah! He just sat up and stared at the wall all night. He denied it, but I definitely saw tears. And he won't tell me what's wrong. Do you know?"  
"Got a fair idea," she said with a small smile, "Can I talk to him?"  
"Sure. I'll get out your way."  
He slipped away and Nicole stepped into the room. When she saw Rimmer she couldn't help but gasp. He really was in a state. His face was tinged with red, his eyes were swollen and tearful, and he was gripping his blanket so tight she wouldn't have been surprised if he had ripped a hole in it.  
"Rimmer," she asked nervously, not wanting to upset him any more, "Have you seen Gemma?"  
Rimmer shook his head robotically.  
"What?" Nicole yelled making Rimmer jump, "You haven't seen her at all?"  
"No," Rimmer spoke for the first time since he had said goodbye to Nicole the previous evening, "You told me to stay away from her, remember?"  
"Oh, God," Nicole started to panic, "Then where is she?"  
"Is she not in her room?"  
"No. I went to see her this morning and she'd gone. No note, nothing."  
Rimmer suddenly leapt up, "OK, I'll help you find her. Unless…I mean, do you want me to?"  
"Yes!" Nicole cried, "Any help is welcome!"  
"OK. I think I've got an idea of where she is. But we need to go see a few people first."

They set off down the maze of winding corridors until they reached a door which Rimmer knocked on. Liz and Bex answered.  
"Rimmer!" Liz exclaimed, "What happened last night? Why was tutoring cancel-"  
"Er, that's not important," Rimmer interrupted before Nicole got any more information she could use to fire at him, "Have you seen Gemma anywhere?"  
"Nope," Bex replied, "Not since Saturday."  
"Damn…" Rimmer said.  
"Why, what's happened?" Liz asked.  
"She's gone missing," Nicole replied.  
"What?" Liz and Bex cried in unison.  
"Can you help us?" Rimmer asked, "Can you go to Laura's room whilst we go to Robyn's?"  
"Of course!" Bex replied, "Come on, Liz." They sprinted off in one direction whilst Rimmer and Nicole went another.  
"You really were just trying to help, weren't you?" Nicole asked him as they made their way, "You really do care about these kids don't you?"  
"Of course I do!" Rimmer replied. Before Nicole could say anything else they had reached Robyn's room.  
"Rimmer!" Robyn said excitedly, "What are you doing here? Who's this? Oh…wait…is she…?"  
"Sort of, yes," Rimmer said quickly, drawing confused looks from Nicole. He ignored them and moved on, "Robyn, have you seen Gemma lately?"  
"Not recently, sorry."  
"Oh God," Nicole said faintly. For the first time she was actually feeling genuinely scared.  
"How do you know Gem?" Robyn asked Nicole.  
"She's my daughter, and she's gone missing!"  
Robyn didn't know which piece of information she should be more shocked about. Suddenly, Bex, Liz and Laura came running up behind them.  
"I heard Gemma's disappeared!" Laura said, out-of-breath.  
"She doesn't know where she is either," Liz explained.  
"Oh my God!" Nicole whimpered, "Then where the smeg is she?"  
"Don't worry," Rimmer said putting his arm around her, "We'll find her, I promise."  
"Where would she go?" Laura wondered aloud.  
"Well, she wouldn't go anywhere crowded, would she?" Rimmer guessed and the others shook their heads, "So she's probably somewhere fairly deserted…"  
"And with a good paper supply," Robyn finished, "you know how she loves to write, especially when she's got something angsty or upsetting to write about. She's like Laura."  
Laura nodded agreement.  
"Attention, attention!" Holly announced over the thousands of speakers that littered Red Dwarf, "Starbug 2 has been stolen! Repeat, Starbug 2 has been stolen! All military personnel to stations!"  
The search party looked amongst themselves for a second then dashed off to the docking bays.

"We'll never get a craft," Laura said as they approached the door, "It'd be pushing it a bit for one qualified person to take five stowaways, even if they were registered."  
"Well we've got to try!" Nicole said.  
"What if Gemma hasn't actually taken that Starbug?" Robyn asked, "That's a lot of time wasted!"  
"Can anyone think of anything else?" Rimmer challenged. He was greeted by a silence, "Right."  
Nicole dashed through the door to the Ground Control booth and got permission to take a Blue Midget.  
"Could I take some people with me?" she asked.  
"'ow many?" the Ground Controller asked tetchily, twiddling her hair impatiently.  
"Five."  
"Five?"  
"I've got a big family," Nicole lied.  
"Alright, I need their names, their relation to ya, and their reason for flight."  
"Er, well, there's Arnold Rimmer he's…my…husband," she said going ever so slightly red, "crew member 168. Then my four daughters, Robyn, Liz, Bex and…er…oh my God…Laura!" she said triumphantly.  
"Bloody 'ell!" the ground controller exclaimed, "You 'ave been busy ain't ya!"  
Nicole rubbed her forehead nervously, "Could I please have the flight pass now?"  
"'ang on! I need their reason for flight."  
"Oh, well, er…they, er, they need to go to Mimas to, um…visit a sick grandmother. And it's rather urgent, we're all extremely concerned, so could you hurry it along a little?"  
"Why didn't ya just go on the shuttle ten minutes ago?"  
"Oh, my husband can't stand public transport," Nicole said quickly, "too claustrophobic."  
The Ground Controller stared at her, mouth slightly open, "So, 'e's extremely concerned about this sick grandmother, but 'e won't get on a shuttle to go see 'er 'cos it's too claustrophobic?" she asked incredulously.  
Nicole realised there was no explanation that would sound feasible so she simply said, "Yes."  
She grabbed the flight pass out of the shocked Ground Controller's hand and ran off.  
"Blue Midget 6," she read off the pass to the others when she found them, "Bay 16, let's go."

They scrambled into the few seats aboard the tiny craft and Nicole hit the power.  
Meanwhile, Rimmer grabbed a microphone and attempted contact.  
"Blue Midget 6 to Starbug 2. Do you read me?"

"Blue Midget 6 to Starbug 2. Do you read me?"  
Gemma eyed the radio thoughtfully; that was the fifth signal she'd received from Rimmer. And she wanted to speak to him more than anything, but she just knew that her mother would be with him, and she didn't even want to _see _her, let alone talk to her. She kept a steady grip on the controls and veered slightly to the left towards a blue planet.  
"Blue Midget 6 to Starbug 2. _Do you read me_?"  
Piloting was a breeze, Gemma thought to herself. She casually flicked a stray hair from her forehead to behind her ear.  
"Blue Midget 6 to-"  
"What?" she yelled irritably, grabbing the mike.  
"Gemma, thank God!" Rimmer breathed, "Are you OK?"  
"I'm fine," Gemma said brightly, "And I'll be even better when I'm away from you and Mum."  
"I know it all seems bad at the moment," Rimmer said calmly, "but it'll get better, I promise. Remember how you were when we first met? Nervous, shy, an underachiever…"  
"This better be going somewhere," Gemma said sulkily.  
"But you worked past that. You've grown up a lot. You've even taught me a thing or two."  
Gemma's face contorted itself into a smile. She couldn't help it.  
"Please come back and we can sort all this out properly," Rimmer continued, "You really mean a lot to me and I'd be beside myself if you got hurt out there. You…you're like a daughter to me, you really are."  
"Don't say that," Gemma said bitterly, "She might start getting ideas. Get pregnant by _another_ guy."  
"Gem!" Nicole snapped.  
"Oh, go away."  
"Please listen to me-"  
"I won't!" Gemma screamed, "Why should I? Rimmer was the best thing that happened in my life and you drove him away!"  
"Gemma-" Rimmer said again, but Gemma interrupted.  
"Leave me alone!"  
"I want to help you!" Rimmer said, raising his voice slightly.  
"Help me? That's rich! You're not even prepared to fight for me!"  
"What?"  
"Why didn't you tell her that you'd only just found out about this whole mess? She'd have understood! She might even have let you off!" her voice lowered almost incomprehensibly, "She's trusting like that."

Back on Blue Midget Nicole had put her hand on Rimmer's arm, "Is that true?"  
Rimmer nodded and looked at the floor. Nicole cupped his chin and brought his head back up so she could make eye-contact with him, "Why didn't you say?"  
"I dunno," Rimmer mumbled, "Just…didn't seem important at the time."  
They stared into each other's eyes in a deadly silence until Robyn screamed, "KISS HIM, FOOL!"  
Nicole jerked back into reality, "What?"  
"Can you not see it?" Bex said, "Can you really not see it?"  
"See _what_?"  
"He loves you!" the four girls chorused.  
Another silence.  
"Well?" Robyn said, "Are you going to?"  
"What?" Rimmer asked.  
"Tell her."  
Nicole was trying hard to cover up her giggles. Rimmer took one look at her and also started laughing. It somehow made it easier.  
"Nikki, I love you. Always have, always will."  
"Ditto," Nicole said and wrapped her arms around his waist. Liz put her hands over Robyn's eyes as they kissed.

Gemma folded her arms huffily. Having Rimmer and her mum declare they were in love made it very difficult to be angry at them.  
"I suppose this means I have to come back," she said, a smile creeping sneakily across her face.  
"Yes, it does," Rimmer said hugging Nicole close to him, not daring to let go unless she was pulled away again. He felt incredible. He was part of a family. A proper family. He'd never had that feeling before and looking around at Nicole nuzzling into him and at Robyn, Liz, Laura and Bex smiling up at him he decided he really, really liked the feeling!

Pity it would only last a few more seconds.

Gemma, through her euphoria, lost control of Starbug 2 and crashed into the blue planet's surface.

**A/N: **_Another_ bloody blue planet! What's wrong with me? (Check chapter 7 of 'Lives of Lister' and chapter 12 of 'Love' if you don't know what I'm on about.)


	18. Rescue

**Author's Note: **Last chappy :( And it's a sad one, I'm warning you (I cried as I wrote it).  
Thank you to: smeggin-brilliant, Rimmerslittlevoodoodoll, Sunrise over the Tango Factory, Reddwarfaddict, Giver-of-Hope, Pentium, cazflibs, boogle, Sojuske and Zombie Kitty for your lovely, lovely reviews! You guys make all the writer's block and misery worthwhile! **:D**

Without stopping to think, Rimmer ran to the airlock and began to open it. He was stopped by Nicole tugging his arm away.  
"What?" he asked, panic-stricken.  
"What the hell are you doing?"  
"I'm going to go rescue her!"  
"Arn, we haven't landed yet! And we don't even know if the atmosphere is breathable!"  
Rimmer stood, jiggling from one foot to the other for a while before conceding defeat. He pelted back to the control panel in Blue Midget's cockpit and, hands shaking, he plotted a course for the planet.  
As they neared the planet's surface they were able to see the full extent of the damage the crash had caused. The swirls of blue smoke and dust were both the most beautiful and the most heart-wrenching thing any of them had ever seen. There was an eerie silence as they descended into the thick, atmospheric fog.  
Laura tapped a few nearby buttons and examined the screen, "The air's breathable."  
Rimmer wasted no time in kicking open the airlock door and sprinting to the crashed vessel.  
Specks of grit and silt blinded him as he fumbled along the ground. He waved his arms uselessly in front of him. Finally, his hands touched cold metal. He swept his hand along its surface and saw distinctly green, although slightly charred, paintwork. He felt his way along to the smashed in windscreen, coughing the dust out of his throat. He heaved himself up into the cockpit and began to search through the rubble yelling, "Gemma? Gemma?"

Back in Blue Midget, Nicole nervously paced around. The only noise to be heard was the rubber of her soles brushing against the ground as Liz, Bex, Laura and Robyn sat nervously, trying various different methods (such as plaiting hair, biting nails, and, in Laura's case, trying to think of how to torture a character in her latest story) to keep themselves occupied. Gemma's voice pierced the silence, "Mum! Rimmer! Someone!"  
Nicole ran and grabbed the radio, nearly snapping its cord, "Gemma! Gem, I'm here!"  
"Mum, I'm scared!"  
"It's OK, sweetheart, Arn's coming to get you."  
"Good," Gemma breathed a sigh of relief, "But I'm worried about Faiyre."  
"Faiyre? Why?"  
"Well, she's in the back of Starbug somewhere and-"  
"WHAT?" Nicole screamed into the receiver, "Why is she there?"  
"Well, we ran into each other when I was going to get Starbug and she said she'd come with me. She's been homeless for two nights and she wanted to get away from Red Dwarf."  
"Oh my God…" Nicole said faintly.  
"I don't know how she is! I haven't heard her."  
"It's OK," Nicole said through her tears, "Just hang in there."  
Gemma's sobs ripped through Nicole's heart. She knew this was all her fault. She was a terrible mother.  
"What are we going to do?" Robyn said, panicked.  
"Arn doesn't know about Faiyre so I'm going to have to get her myself," Nicole said determinedly.  
"Are you sure?" Liz asked.  
"Positive. I want my family back…" she ran out before a fit of hysterical crying could stop her being able to.

Rimmer ripped chunks of metal out of his way and made his way towards the back of Starbug's cockpit.  
"Gemma?" he yelled.  
"Here!"  
"Keep talking, I'll get you out!"  
A juddering screech masked Gemma's words: "Get Faiyre! I'll get myself out!"  
The whole of Starbug was slowly tipping itself to one side. Rimmer knew he had to work quickly, but he also had to be extremely careful; one sudden movement could be fatal. Through the rubble and clouds of ash his hands had to be his eyes. He felt his way towards Gemma, being wary of any loose pieces of metal. He wiped his brow on his shoulder, which didn't help with anything other than to put a layer of dust on his face. As he coughed it away his left hand fell through a hole on Starbug's side. He tripped and thumped to the ground. Starbug's frame wobbled worryingly, sending bits of wire and metal and plastic flying through the air. Gemma weaved out of the way of one piece of heavy-looking rubble, only to be hit and knocked out by another piece of even heavier-looking rubble.  
Starbug steadied itself and Rimmer waited for some sign of life. None came.  
"Gemma?" he called, "GEMMA?"  
He made his way frantically across the mess in front of him and finally reached her. She had a gruesome gash on the side of her face. He undid his tie and stopped the bloodflow with it. Tentatively picking her up he shakily got to his feet and attempted to pick his way back to the outside.

Nicole, meanwhile, was running erratically down to the crashed vessel. She couldn't see more than her arm's length in front of her, but she kept running fast. By the time she saw the stark green of Starbug it was too late, and she smashed into its side causing another rumble. She cringed and waited for it to stop. She heard a thud not far from her followed by an "Ow!"  
"Arnie?" she called into the fog.  
"Nikki!" a reply came, "What are you doing here?"  
As he ran to her she saw Gemma lying unconscious in his arms and she screamed.  
"Sshhh," Rimmer comforted her, "it's OK."  
It was a while before Nicole realized he was leading her away from Starbug's wreckage.  
"No, no!" she cried, pulling away from him.  
"Nik, we have to get out of here!" he said, grabbing her arm.  
"No, you don't understand, I need to get back there!"  
"There's no nee-"  
"FAIYRE'S IN THERE!" Nicole screeched. Rimmer stared at her in shock.  
"Oh God…Will you be OK?"  
"I'll be fine, you just need to let me g-"  
She was cut off by a massive explosion from behind them as what was left of Starbug gave way and crashed to the floor. Rimmer, Nicole and Gemma were thrown to the ground and Blue Midget was shaken by the shock waves.

"Oh, God!" Bex screamed as she saw shards of green metal fly past the window.  
"Are they out?" Robyn shouted through the noise.  
"Who knows!" Liz replied.  
Laura dashed to the window and peered out, "I can't tell, it's too dusty."  
"We need to get out there," Robyn said firmly, making her way to the door.  
"Are you crazy?" Liz said, grabbing her arm, "Do you _want_ to get killed?"  
"Well, no. But it's already exploded, hasn't it? What danger could it be now?"  
"Aftershocks?" Bex answered, "Earthquakes? That could have been one of the engine's going off and we don't know how stable the others are!"  
"Alright, fine!" Robyn finally gave up and joined Laura at the window.  
"We'll just have to wait," said Laura.

Rimmer waited at least fifteen minutes before letting himself and Nicole get up. Rimmer checked on Gemma whilst Nicole sprinted over towards Starbug. Rimmer looked up and a sudden gust of cold wind blew the dust and grit away, allowing him to see Nicole standing deathly still by a smoking crater. He heard a clank of metal and saw Robyn and Liz running down from Blue Midget.  
"We'll take her back," they said solemnly, picking Gemma up between them. Rimmer nodded and walked slowly over to Nicole. As he got nearer to her he could see her shoulder's gently shaking. He looked into the huge hole and shuddered slightly; apart from the billows of smoke emanating from it, you wouldn't know there had ever been human life there. He looked over to Nicole and saw the tears streaking silently down her cheeks. He felt his own eyes begin to well as he brought her into a close hug. Nicole burst into irrepressible sobs.  
"I can't believe this!" she cried, "I just can't…I can't believe it!"  
Rimmer stayed silent, but it wasn't his usual 'avoid-the-embarrassment' silence. The truth was, he couldn't believe it either. He didn't know if there was a God, but he was fairly certain that whoever or whatever God was, they didn't like him very much. Every time he had come a butterfly's wing away from true contentment, something unbearably awful happened and it was whisked away, usually hurting the people around him in the process. He nuzzled into Nicole's neck and bit his tongue to stop himself descending into a crying fit.  
"You'll get through this," he whispered shakily into her ear.  
"_We'll _get through this," Nicole replied in-between her tears. Rimmer kissed her lightly and hugged her tighter. They stood for a while, giving comfort to each other, before helping each other across the planet, back to Blue Midget.

"Gemma?" Nicole murmured into her daughter's ear. Gemma's eyes fluttered open.  
"She didn't make it, did she?" she whispered. Nicole shook her head slowly and wrapped her arms around Gemma's body. Gemma tearfully hugged her back. Rimmer looked on at his family. Because they _were _his family. And this family, though incomplete, was strong. Strong enough to move on from the disaster, and attempt to rebuild their lives.

**A/n: **That's it. It's all over. And I've opened a gate of tears that won't close. Please review:)


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